Investigation reveals EY India office lacked labor welfare permit following employee’s death

An Ernst & Young (EY) office in western India where a 26-year-old audit executive named Anna Sebastian Perayil allegedly died from too much workload, did not have a state labor welfare permit since its establishment in 2007, according to a senior government official speaking to Reuters.

The examination comes in the wake of the tragic death of Perayil, whose mother had, in a letter addressed to the chairman of EY India, attributed the cause of death to an “overwhelming” workload. That has led to a federal investigation of the matter.

In a statement on Tuesday, EY pointed out that the global member firm SRBC & Co. LLP is fully cooperating with the Ministry of Labor as far as the investigation is concerned but has chosen not to say anything else.

It is against this backdrop that calls for better protection of workers’ interests in high-pressure careers gathered momentum in the wake of the death of a junior banker at Bank of America earlier this year. JPMorgan has also recently created a new post to better respond to similar concerns.

Maharashtra’s additional labor commissioner, Shailendra Pol, said EY was conducting business without state registration under the Shops and Establishments Act, which limits adult work hours to nine an hour and 48 a week.

Pol said the firm could have only applied for registration last February but was rejected for not doing so since the opening of the office in 2007. The firm now has seven days to explain why there was a lapse.

It could lead to imprisonment for up to six months, or a fine of as much as Rs500,000 ($5,979) along with imprisonment.

Perayil’s mother Anita Augustine wrote a letter enumerating her grievances. “She used to work till late night and on weekends also, without having any scope to breathe her out,” she said in a letter that appeared prominently in the media and went viral on social networking sites.

EY had earlier stated that it treats employees well and was very serious about taking the concerns of the family to heart. The family of Perayil has said that she died from cardiac arrest.

Pol said that his team has asked EY for all kinds of records. So there are employee hour logs, welfare policies, whether Perayil was made to work too long hours during her four months as an associate at the firm. EY has around 100,000 employees working in its member firms in India.